Power players — Maksuti, Connors up front

Since the Suburban Council (SC) regular season is over and we’re in the last few days of the Sectionals, it is a perfect time to look back at the regular season leading scorers and ask tough questions such as; “who are the real clutch performers?”. Who comes up big in the big games? Who do you want with the ball in the closing seconds of a close game? Who is worth going to see in the AA & A Sectionals, who do I watch for?

A number of girls achieved some very impressive stats for the year. This is more remarkable because of how competitive (and physical) the SC play is and because of the SC traditions against running up the score. A lot of folks/parents/fans just don’t realize how hard it is to score against top SC teams. Games between top teams are usually in the 1-1, 1-0, 0-0, 2-1, 2-0 range. Some teams will begin subbing in the reserves in the first half when a game is in hand, some at the half, some will switch players around ( as in giving a senior defender a chance to play forward). You seldom see anyone scoring 3/4/5 goals per game in the SC. Everyone’s definition of when a game is in hand is a little different, some will sub with a 1 goal lead, some need 2-3 to feel comfortable. If you see a SC blowout and look at the scoring, especially the second half – it’s almost always the reserves that have scored. There are some coaches who violate this tradition.

A “POWER” type concept is used in college football, soccer, and basketball to focus on performance against top opponents …. especially in conferences that have multiple divisions. There are many different names and implementations for this concept but generally it asks the question “How does your team/player do against its/their toughest competition?”

If you assume that SC team “competitiveness” falls on a normal bell curve (which is inaccurate, but you have to start somewhere), then the question becomes; “How did you do in the 50 % of your games that fell on the left side of the curve (your toughest opponents)?” SC teams play a 16 game schedule – so we want to look at the toughest 8 games regardless of conference – as measured by winning percentage. And yes, this is not perfect because it could be argued that in any given year one division is tougher than the other (so winning percentages could be skewed) , but given the competitiveness of the larger schools it is pretty close.

Thus North Division Power opposition would be: Saratoga (2), Bethlehem (1), Nisky (2), Shen (2), Burnt Hills (2) and Guilderland (1). That’s 10 games. If you’re on the list, you simply cross your team off the list to get the toughest 8 opponents. If you’re not on the list, take the first 8 games in the order shown from the left.

South Division Power opposition would be: Bethlehem (2), Saratoga (1), Nisky (1), Shen (1), Burnt Hills (1), Guilderland (2). Shaker (1) and Ballston Spa (1). That’s 10 games. If you’re on the list, you simply cross your team off the list to get the toughest 8 opponents. If you’re not on the list, take the first 8 games in the order shown from the left.

NOTES: This is based on game posted as of C.O.B. Monday, October 22, the season end (a couple of games were either not played or not reported).
Everyone with 5 or more regular season points was included, anyone with zero power points was not printed out.
There are some who did not have at least 5 regular season total points but who had one or more power points – who are thus not included as well.